Hair Styles

Many people think that every single day ladies would wash their
hair and then set it in those huge southern belle curls. This
couldn't be farther from the truth! The everyday hair styles were
wearing your hair parted down the middle, and then slicked
back into a bun at the nap of the neck or pinned back and covered with
a snood. For women who unfortunately had curly hair(like
myself) would have to straighten it with hot combs and sweet oils. A
hot comb was a metal comb that you would place near the stove or
fireplace to get it hot. When it was hot enough you would put sweet oil
in your hair and then run teh hot comb through it, erasing the curls
temperarily. Wearing hair in a bun was common because it kept the
hair out of the ladys way as she worked, cooked, cleaned, etc.Women
also wore snoods, these were like heavy duty hair nets. But keep
in mind that the hair net that we know today wasn't
created until the 1920s - 1940s. The younger women would wear them
in lighter/brighter colors. Older women would wear the color that went
best with their hair color. Snoods (many reenactors call them hair
nets, but I have heard them refered to as either or) would be made of a
light cotton or yarn. Women would simply slip them on over their hair
after it had already been dressed. It would also kept the
hair up off the neck, so it would keep them cooler. It was considered
VERY inappropriate for a man to see a woman with her hair totally down,
unless you were in the privacy of your own home with your husband, or
else you were looked down up greatly.

When attending a Ball or a special event
you would wear your hair in curls. To curl your hair you
would take a curling cylinder, which resembles the barrel of a
curling iron like we use today, and place it near the stove or
fireplace to get it warmed up. Then you would gently and quickly wrap
your hair around the barrel and wait until it cooled to remove
it.